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WARNING:
CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. |
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From the Manufacturer
How many towers can you place? ThinkFun challenges you to solve our 36 Cube. Start by removing the towers following two simple rules: there must be only one of each colored tower in every row and column, and the towers must fit into the base so each tower is at the same height. Sound simple? Think again. There a 6 levels of success, so keep trying it to improve upon your previous effort.
Product Description
How many towers can YOU place? Your goal is to place the 36 colored towers onto the puzzle base following two simple rules: there must be one and only one of each colored tower in each row and column, and the towers must fit in the base to form a perfect cube shape with all towers at the same height. Keep trying, see how many towers you can place before YOU get stuck!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a great puzzle the way a Rubic's cube is a great puzzle.,
= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: ThinkFun 36 Cube (Toy)
My 11 year old son got a 36 cube for his birthday and played with it for many hours. From that standpoint, it's a reasonable toy. I found it interesting to think about just how difficult a puzzle this is. There are 6 different colors and each color has 6 pieces of 6 different heights. At first thought, there could be a huge number of possibilities but there are also posts that the pieces have to sit on and they constrain the possible locations of the colored pieces. The next paragraph of this review contains something that many would consider a spoiler but I feel it needs to be said. If you plan to buy this puzzle for someone else and have no intention of trying to solve it yourself, you should read on. If you think a good puzzle is one that is easy to understand but a challenge to solve, like a rubic's cube, you might want to read on because you might not like this puzzle.
ThinkFun describes this puzzle as having an Aha moment when solving it. There are many types of Aha moments, like the moment you realize a new way to deduce a value in Sudoku, or, when you realize you have been betrayed by someone you trusted. I enjoy the first type but not the second. Unfortunately, I consider the Aha moment in this puzzle to be in the second category. With this hint, some may want to stop reading here and take the challenge this puzzle offers. After wondering how many combinations there really are in this puzzle, I decided to write a computer program to explore its possibilities. My program determined that there were no solutions. I checked my logic carefully and there were no mistakes. This prompted me to do a quick web search and I found that the Aha moment in the solution is when you realize that this puzzle is not what it first appears to be. One would naturally assume that all the pieces of the same length are identical but they are not! To hide this fact, unlike most puzzles, this puzzle does not come from the factory in the solved state. Had it come solved, people would realize that some of the pieces were in places where they shouldn't fit. This left me feeling that Think Fun cheated. It's the most challenging puzzle in the world because, if you don't realize there's a trick to it, it's impossible! I now view it as a practical joke and not a puzzle. Once you realize its secret, it's not an extremely difficult puzzle. After adjusting for the secret, my computer program solved it after placing under 2000 pieces. Unlike Rubic's cubes and Sudoku puzzles, I doubt if there is an elegant way to solve this one so it's not a very enjoyable puzzle.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
3-D Thinking Fun!,
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= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: ThinkFun 36 Cube (Toy)
I purchased two of these puzzles for my classroom. My high school students love it! In fact, one of my juniors asked if he could take it home to work on it! It is highly engaging and promotes verbal communication - my students eagerly share their thinking and reasoning while trying to solve it (without any prompting from me!). So far, they have gotten all but two in place (on three separate occasions), so it is still "unsolved" after several weeks of attempts by at least eight individuals, six pairs, and five small groups of students! (Several students have made multiple attempts!) I plan to buy more to give as gifts for friends and relatives who like fun and challenging puzzles! It is well worth the investment!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Challenging, Colorful, Fun!,
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= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: ThinkFun 36 Cube (Toy)
I too am a high school math teacher and have a copy of this puzzle in my classroom! It is fantastic, the puzzle seems like it would be pretty easy at first but is actually deceptively difficult. Groups of students have worked on it throughout the past year, but it has only been solved once (by again a student who took it home over the weekend). The puzzle definitely encourages persistence and problem solving skills, and comes with a built in Aha moment... Ideal classroom puzzle.
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